Bored with Tech [modified]
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
I got bored with it years ago, but it's the only thing I know how to do well that pays decently and consistently, so I keep doing it. Only 13 more years till retirement. Or 15. Or 18. Or 20. Depends on all those investments, er, gambles turn out.
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
I enjoy programming. Not learning a new API that does slightly more than something i wrote in C 16 years ago while imposing 10x the memory and CPU load. And definitely not business of software, which is what seems to pass for at least half of the tech reporting out there. I enjoy writing code to solve problems. What gets me out of a slump is going back to what got me interested in this in the first place: small languages or APIs, small solutions that can then be re-used in larger ones. Putting myself in a position where I can write without constantly referring to MSDN. It's amazing how good it feels to write a bit of code to do something, and then find an example solution online that's fragile, longer, and depends on some external library for most of what's not boilerplate... It's the sort of thing that makes me want to keep going. :)
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
Jim Crafton wrote:
Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently?
Yes. I only started in 2004, and got bored around 2007.
Jim Crafton wrote:
what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
I'm moving into a BA role.
Cheers, Vikram. (Got my troika of CCCs!)
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Joe Simes wrote:
"Follow your bliss." – Joseph Campbell
That would lead me to Salma Hayak, and I don't think the restraining order has been removed! Oh help me Obi Wan! You're my only hope!
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
I've forwarded this to your wife. Just helping whatever little I can. ;) Btw, it's Hayek (yeah, ask me) and not Hayak. :)
“Follow your bliss.” – Joseph Campbell
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Seems like when a new platform comes out all of the "apps" or development takes a step back 3 years. Back in the early 90's I was a cd rom developer. Mostly CBT (Authorware) and educational software for kids/schools (Director). Lots of animation and problems solving. Low level crap like print drivers and text to speech stuff. It was fun. Then there was the internet, cd rom dev dried up and everyone wanted a web page. So now I am a glorified text formatter a pasteup artist. :doh: Then Shockwave emerged and the Director stuff came back but with limitations due to the browser sandbox. So now I am redoing all of the crap I did for all of the school software as mini Schlockwave modules. Learning Perl so I can save data to a database on the web server. :omg: Then I get tasked to learn ColdFusion and I am now a text formatter again storing crap in databases (MS Access, SQL Server, Oracle). Then Flash came out and I am redoing the Schlockwave games but using CF to jam the data (high scores) into an Oracle database instead of using Perl to write it to a flat file. :wtf: I hate Flash so now I am a ColdFusion/Oracle developer writing document tracking software in an industrial facility (the Navy :^) ) and I have just been tasked to "learn" Sharepoint so it can track the damn spreadsheets instead of my CF app. X| I want to open a BBQ restaurant with a nice little stage for live hillbilly music! :suss:
Open the BBQ restaurant. It will be fun and give you a break from programming.
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Programming is just the tool. Find a field of interest where the majority of your learning is related to the field and not the programming tech. Games, medical imaging, movie animation, robotics, astronomy, physics, etc. Jumping in to the latest Microsoft fad is a sure way to get frustrated and burned out.
Todd Smith
Todd Smith wrote:
Programming is just the tool.
Amen. You just got my 5. <nitpickBecauseThisIsAnImportantSubject> I'd replace "Find a field of interest where the majority of your learning is related to the field and not the programming tech." by "Be an expert user of the tools, but apply them to a field in which you have both passion and expertees." That means 1) becoming an empassioned expert in the problem domain before learning the tools, and 2) not changing tools unless there's a really good reason to do so. </nitpickBecauseThisIsAnImportantSubject> My passion has always been written music. Best, James
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
Jim Crafton wrote:
Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
Buy yourself and old Land Rover and rather than spending your free time programming or on the computer rebuild it. The worse condition it is the better, bought my base vehicle for £80 and taken a few years but it's on the road now (although still not quite finished). Might be more difficult to rebuild in the states but here in Britain the parts are dirt cheap. Just had to put a new alternator in (well was easier than repairing the old one) and was £30 and an hours work. BTW, I had no mechanical knowledge before I started this project so doesn't make the slightest bit of difference. Will post some piccys if I can find them.
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
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I enjoy programming. Not learning a new API that does slightly more than something i wrote in C 16 years ago while imposing 10x the memory and CPU load. And definitely not business of software, which is what seems to pass for at least half of the tech reporting out there. I enjoy writing code to solve problems. What gets me out of a slump is going back to what got me interested in this in the first place: small languages or APIs, small solutions that can then be re-used in larger ones. Putting myself in a position where I can write without constantly referring to MSDN. It's amazing how good it feels to write a bit of code to do something, and then find an example solution online that's fragile, longer, and depends on some external library for most of what's not boilerplate... It's the sort of thing that makes me want to keep going. :)
His Shog Agree 100% - Write code to solve problems. That is the fun part. Things in software go round in a loop and I think things have not been essentially new since the arrival of OO idea in the 80's. Most supposedly big proprietary things are actually just small things that are fun to write better versions of. All the recent change seems hugely inconvenient because it distracts me from problem solving, but the change is needed to feed the big companies their £ and $. Hence they need to pretend the change is necessary. It has not been for some years. Our very small development company has taken things in a more bussiness centered direction to yourself but it is the same idea. It realy is the problems that are fun. I also love writing and applying better replacements for hyped commerical software. Well said Shog - pass me that socket :)
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
Hmm, as an official "Grumpy Old Man" I have to agree. I've been developing software in one form or another now for over 30 years (FFS!), in environments ranging from Elliott 903 Assembler, BASIC, TECO, KDF9, ICL Fortran IV, Algol 68R, Z80 assembler, Algol 60 through C/C++ (Borland, GNU &co) via the Inmos Transputer (Occam and parallel C++) to Windows WPF/CLR, Visual Basic, Java/JSP/AJAX web dev, and I've come to believe (watch out for the flame wars!) that programming is programming, regardless of language or development environment. Languages and tools - and especially 'methodologies' and 'paradigms' come and go like ladies fashions - the only technique that has really stuck with me and changed the way I work is object orientation (regardless of language) which made me think about things in a much more productive way when trying to solve real-world problems (rather than the contrived ones usually dreamed up to teach OO - NIH taxonomy anyone?) A good editor or IDE can make life much easier, providing what you want to do fits well (Netbeans + Java and AJAX are good fits, Visual Studio and C++ are not IMHO). I keep looking at design methodologies like UML modelling etc, but in the end they seem to me (as a lone or 2-person developer) to effectively involve writing the app in a pseudo-language which you then have to translate into the destination environment, so I stick to my old fashioned ways of notes discussing things with myself and flow charts or pseudo-code as required! ISTR that the latest 'trend' amongst some lead dev houses now is to revert to procedural programming, something that reached its peak with Algol 60 and then C, back in the early 80s, and then got dropped like a hot potato when OO first appeared - itself becoming 'old hat' in the face of Agile programming (prototyping anyone?) and Extreme Programming. My current task is to develop a viewer and data extraction tool to retrieve data for a financial market maker from the raw data file supplied by their bank, which shows their activity in a particular market. It is obvious from looking at the data description document provided that the data originates from a much modified COBOL program, where updates over the years have been applied inconsistently and where the documentation has struggled to keep pace. I asked for a copy of the CopyBook but that wasn't available, so I've built an Access database that describes the 25 or so complex data records held in the file, so that I can generate an XML data schema for the COBOL data, to be fed to
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- I am considering implementing a Javscript super computer (very interesting and scalable) 2) Lot's of AI research focusing on building a machine to solve the problem, try building one to ask the question. 3) Real-time data acquisition and reporting with data mining 4) * (ok this one is hush hush cause it would make me millions if I wasn't too lazy to implement: keywords HIPAA and low cost) I could go on but the interesting stuff you have to create ... not read about. My article on unsafe gray scale conversion was written primarily to support a motion recognition application I wrote which was kind of cool.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
I agree that the interesting stuff you usually have to create...
Know way too many languages... master of none!
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
I feel similar. There is truly nothing new under the sun. Though I still love to code. The guys who make me laugh though are the ones who say "if you don't jump on the new stuff you're old school" I laugh because these same folks say you should never reinvent the wheel! LOL Hang in there bud - this is harder than brain surgery; human bodies have had the same technology in place for thousands of years... computers change daily! --Jason
Know way too many languages... master of none!
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
I've grown pretty disillusioned with the whole tech scene too. Time was that I used to read books about the subject outside work and program computers to the early hours at night just for fun. Nowadays I've come to realise that sitting in a darkened bunker talking to machines and residing in a virtual world is a nonsense. I'd much rather be outside and enjoying the world than sitting working to pay for the fuel so that I can drive to the office every day. Annoyingly the company I work for offered us all voluntary redundancy earlier this year but refused my application so now I'm working all day to pay for my fuel to get to the office and enough John's Wort to get me through 5 days of limbo before I can get to the 2 days of weekend.
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
You need a sabbatical. I've done it twice in my career. Walk away for at least a year. In my first one, I built a house in the middle of nowhere with NO tech. No TV, no dishwasher, no clothes dryer, and a wood stove. I raised chickens and farmed for a year. It was hard work and I got my head straight. My second sabbatical was less of a chosen after I got laid off and just couldn't find work. I was doing lots of contract work and one day they just stopped rolling in and I was left on the other side of the country away from everyone I knew. With just a few hundred dollars, I lived out of my car and tent in state parks. I used what I learned from my first go and provided my own food. In both cases, I re-entered the industry with a fresh perspective and a great sense of priorities. Technology just for technology's sake will burn anyone out over time. The real life occurs when you step away from your computer. I don't recommend this for everyone, but for me it's like heaven to be free of the bonds of the great digital race.
____________________________________________________ I'd rather have a frontal lobotomy than a bottle in front of me... Bill W
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
My approach to new technology is to first ask myself two things; 1) Is it interesting?; 2) Would learning it make me more marketable or fulfill me personally?. If a technology truly doesn't interest you then there's no point in pursuing it. That just leads to burn-out. It isn't necessary to jump on every new and shiny thing just to "keep up". I would add, though, to keep an open mind and an eye on the industry. As a side note, I began programming in 1971 and worked in assembly language for 15 years. I would've been quite happy to continue that way to this very day. But I found a job where I ended up working in C for 10 years and it was fine. Then I felt the call of The Web and delved into Cold Fusion and now I'm in .Net land. Who knew? And as you've discovered, you'll get little in-depth info about technology from mainstream media. Go to sources like CodeProject and others that cater to developers.
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
When I started, around 1983, I was doing 370 Assembly programming (professionally). In college, they were changing from Fortan 5 to Pascal. There have been many changes since then. From Structured Design to Object Oriented Design to Design Patterns and a few items in between (COM, MFC, Visualn Studio, editors of choice, etc.). Sometimes, it seems that I am a rat on a wheel and every so often, the wheel changes and I need go get used to the new tread. But, it is interesting, because I am growing in knowledge and in years. Also, you're right about magazine coverage being shallow. I remember that MSDN mangazine covered an article for 20 - 25 pages with in depth code and analysis. There once used to be PC Technical Journal, Byte Magazine, and Dr Dobbs. All of their technical article became watered down and not deeply technical. All but one of these magazines still exist. PC Technical Journal was the fastest to go downhill. It started with technical short article and they became less technical until it was just a general computer wrag. MSDN now gives short shift to technical articles. Visual Studio Magazine is going downhill, giving fewer technical articles, more opinion, and more marketing hype. Even technical webinars and articles from Tech Republic have become less technical and more of a means for a company to market their products. When I felt the most discouraged about my career is when I was laid off. I was in a company where we were doing C++ (VC6) for many years and I did not take the time to lean the new technology (C#, .NET, Java). This made it difficult to find a new job. I felt worthless. That my years of experience didn't count. Looking back, old programming languages will not do you much good, but design experience will be more helpful. Breaking down a problem and architecting a solution. Thats\'s my 2 cents for this thread.
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I feel similar. There is truly nothing new under the sun. Though I still love to code. The guys who make me laugh though are the ones who say "if you don't jump on the new stuff you're old school" I laugh because these same folks say you should never reinvent the wheel! LOL Hang in there bud - this is harder than brain surgery; human bodies have had the same technology in place for thousands of years... computers change daily! --Jason
Know way too many languages... master of none!
Jason, you are right in your last statement: "Hang in there bud - this is harder than brain surgery; human bodies have had the same technology in place for thousands of years... computers change daily!" In college, I was a premed student. Did not make it into med school (low GPA), but had a couple of computer programming classes and it was an easy A. It was a no brainer. Since then, I have been happily programming. I have found it better to create/design something better than is currently existing rather than sticking with the same design for years on end. The human body will always remain the same. As a MD, I would spend by time getting back to the same state of health. As a software engineer, I could make my result better than it was before. So much happier that I am making the world a better place. Also, no malpractice insurance needed.
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Has anyone else gotten really disillusioned with programming recently? In the last year or so I've gotten really bored with it, it seems that much of what's considered "new" in the last 5-8 years is just rehashed stuff, and it's become really hard to work up much enthusiasm to spend extra time on it. When I started back in 1995, the industry, or at least the little that I was aware of, seemed much more dynamic. Now it just feels stagnant, and most of the things that I do find myself interested in seem like dead end technology. Many of the things that have become popular, like web "programming", just make me cringe. Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same". So there's not that much "new" to learn in something like WPF, for example. It's just more of the same thing, with a few twists here and there, but it's not that much of a stretch anymore. Another issue is the way it's reported on in both the general media (say a magazine like Time) or even in tech specialist sites (excluding CP of course!). The willingness of any of these places to ask even the simplest of questions regarding "new" or "innovative" technology is nothing short of astonishing. Stuff I've seen reporting on is done in such an incredibly shallow, and frequently incorrect, manner that it's just depressing in the extreme. Has anyone else run into this? If so, what got you over the "hump", so to speak?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
modified on Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:58 AM
Jim Crafton wrote:
Part of this, I think, is that having gone through the process of learning multiple frameworks, multiple languages on multiple operating systems, using a variety of different toolchains, it all starts to become just "more of the same".
The first time you jump on a bandwagon it is exciting, wonderful and it is obvious that it will change the world. After the 100th you begin to realize that it is very seldom that significant ideas come along and much easier to see through the hype.